Homemade vanilla ice cream: on egg yolks, creamy, with or without a machine
Classic vanilla ice cream is made from a crème anglaise: milk, cream, egg yolks and sugar heated to 82 °C until thickened, then chilled overnight. The yolks and fat give creaminess without powders or stabilisers. An ice-cream maker helps but isn't necessary: a metal tub, a freezer and a fork every half hour will do.
Your own work in that: 50 min.
- Custard 20 min
- Chilling overnight 480 min
- Churning 30 min
- Ripening in the freezer 180 min
Step by step
0 / 7 doneHeat the milk and cream
Heat the milk, cream and real vanilla sugar (or a split vanilla pod with the seeds scraped in) in a saucepan almost to the boil: small bubbles should appear at the edges. Take off the heat.
Ingredients: 350 ml whole milk · 350 ml whipping cream (30%) · 5 pcs egg yolks · 130 g sugar · 2 tbsp real vanilla sugar · 1 pinch salt
Almost boiling, bubbles at the edgesWhisk the yolks with sugar
Whisk the yolks with the sugar and salt for 2 minutes, until pale and thick; the whisk should leave a trail that fades after a second.
TipDon't throw away the whites: meringues or tomorrow's omelette. In a jar in the fridge they keep 3 days.
Pale and thick after two minutesTemper the yolks
Pour the hot milk into the yolks in a thin stream, whisking constantly. Half a ladle first, then the rest. Poured in all at once it would scramble the yolks.
A thin stream, whisking all the timeCook to 82 °C
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon along the bottom, 6–8 minutes, until thickened. The custard is ready when it coats the spoon and a finger drawn through it leaves a clean line; a thermometer reads 82 °C. Don't let it boil: above 85 °C the yolks curdle.
TipWithout a thermometer, the spoon test is reliable. If the line floods straight away, cook another minute. If you see lumps, take it off the heat at once and strain.
Coats the spoon, the finger line holdsStrain and chill overnight
Strain through a sieve into a bowl set in a larger bowl of iced water; stir until cool. Cover with film pressed onto the surface and refrigerate at least 8 hours, ideally overnight. A cold, matured base freezes into smaller crystals: that is one of the secrets of creamy ice cream.
On ice, then a night in the fridgeChurn, or freeze with a fork
With a machine: churn the cold base according to the instructions, about 25–30 minutes, to the texture of thick soft-serve. Without a machine: pour the base into a metal tub, put it in the freezer and every 30 minutes stir vigorously with a fork or a stick blender, breaking up the frozen edges, for 3 hours. Metal chills faster than plastic.
TipStirring every half hour breaks the ice crystals before they grow. Skip the stirring and the ice cream is hard and grainy; after six stirs it is much smoother, if not quite as airy as churned.
A fork every half hour, for three hoursRipen and serve
Transfer the finished ice cream to a tub, cover with film on the surface and freeze another 3 hours. Before serving leave 10 minutes on the counter so it scoops. With raspberries, hot chocolate sauce or on apple pie. Keeps 2 weeks in the freezer.
Ten minutes on the counter before scooping
Before you start
Strawberry
Blend 300 g strawberries with a spoon of sugar and lemon juice and stir into the cold base before churning. The same with raspberries pushed through a sieve.
Chocolate
Melt 100 g dark chocolate into the hot custard right after taking it off the heat. Use 20 g less sugar.
Hard as a rock
Too little fat and sugar, or too little stirring. Don't reduce the cream or the sugar: both lower the freezing point and keep the ice cream soft.
